Nev

Season 4 is essentially the 2nd half of book 3, which is the most epic part of the entire series.

From what I've seen of HNIC over the years, you're lucky if they mention any non-Toronto teams.

No, last season, and the season before was the same (feast or famine).

Yeah, I think so. Very surprised there's no suspension coming. Anyway, Boston are a very good team. Bergeron, Marchand, Ericsson, Iginla, Krecij, Chara, Rask - they've got a lot of good players, and they had time and space all over the ice this game.

Why can't you be happy for all us Wings fans in Europe who get to watch a game at tea-time?

Oh, it was the drugs and the booze that made him depressed, that's OK then *facepalm* So the next obvious question is - why was he on the drugs and the booze? In fact why do so many enforcers have problems with drugs and alcohol? Why is drug addiction and alcoholism so much more prevalent amongst them than regular NHL players?

lol, seriously? Brunner fought off the defenceman to maintain position on the first goal, and on the other was cool enough to hold onto the puck for the fraction of a second he needed to elevate the puck over the goalie. If scoring goals was as easy as hanging around the crease and poking rebounds home, Phil Esposito wouldn't be the only person to do it 70 times a season. And when Tatar finally gets his chance and starts scoring these kinds of goals on a regular basis (as he did in GR) I look forward to you calling them all lucky goals that you could have scored.

Griffs win 8-1 in Rochester, Nyquist with a goal and 2 assists! Sproul 2 goals, Almquist 3 assists.

And so it begins........the fortunes of the pro and anti enforcer camp depend upon the result of every Boston v Detroit game this season......... Not that Lucic and Chara will stop Boston losing 14-3 as Pavel racks up a goal and 13 assists.

Wow, sounded like the Wings were at home for the winner

Like Zetterberg and Weiss then? Seriously guys, so he didn't sign for us? Just let it go.

Ahhh, Saturday afternoons watching Grandstand with Barry Davies doing the commentary, the Durham Wasps, and of course the legend that was Hilton Ruggles

Yeah, if only Vancouver had someone on their roster who could fight, this would never have happened! Honestly, this is the problem with the fight fans argument. There has always been cheap-shotting in the game, just as there has always been fighting. "Making guys answer" with fighting hasn't stopped the cheap shots. As I think Harald has pointed out, what has caused a noticable change is the suspensions the league has started handing out for hits to the head. And BTW, I'm not calling for fighting to be banned, although I believe it is inevitable. Its just the exagerrated "fighting helps prevent cancer!!!!" claims of the fight fans that have always annoyed me. I view fighting as like having nuclear weapons - you need them because your opponent has them.

Really impressive game, looked like we carried on from where we left off last season - skating hard, solid defensively, crashing the net, Howard looking good. Only one game, and it was only Buffalo, but I'm liking what I'm seeing. And Tatar and Nyquist are doing a great job right now - of lighting a fire under Sammy, Bert, Cleary and Emmertons asses.

Ask Mrs Roy what happens when you cross Patty....

I'm puzzled by people mentioning the Draper/Lemiuex and Lidstrom/Laperrierre hits. On both occasions we had fighters on the team., on both occasions they did nothing to prevent the hit occuring. No point circle jerking over Downey dropping the gloves when Lidstrom is already out injured. Clearly Downey failed as an enforcer. Lemiuex was a dirty SOB his entire career and enforcers did nothing to stop his cheap-shotting.

Just for the record, I would like to point out that fighting is currently "banned" in the NHL. Fighting carries a minimum penalty of a 5 minute major.

Its been speculated for at least as long as I've been following hockey (20 years for the record) that one day someone will be killed in a fight when they hit their head on the ice, and that will be the trigger for banning fighting. Its why I hate "takedowns", far more dangerous than punching someones helmet, and one day someone will suffer brain damage or worse from it as they get pile driven head first into the ice.

I thought the same, seem to recall Abdelkader got his first game that way.

Usually the coach chooses, no doubt with input from the GM/owner. Sometimes they'll get input from the senior players, but a good coach will know the mood of the locker room already.

I think you're right that there will be nights that Abdelkader's lack of skill will cost us goals and points, but ultimately if his forechecking, work in the corners, and net front presence enable Pav and Hank to score 80pts, then he's doing his job. Can't decide if I'm surprised or not by the number of votes for Babcock/Holland.

The difference is that at this point Tatar and Nyquist are our best forward prospects since probably Hudler and Filpulla in the mid-2000's, and in the long run one or both of them may turn out to be better. Huds and Flip were also battling to get a spot on a far superior roster than we have now. I don't actually have much against Bert, Cleary, Miller, Eaves, Tootoo, even Sammy. I do have a problem with all of them together, plus Emmerton as well who is clearly not an NHL player. One of Miller or Eaves. One of Bert or Cleary. Emmerton in the AHL where he belongs. We've got a collection of bit-part players - every squad has to have them to fill out their roster in the cap world. Problem is, they're not filling out the roster, they're half the roster, and they're keeping better players out. Bert-Andersson-Cleary may not be the worst line in the NHL but it sure as hell is the slowest. I fear for Andersson without the dynamism of Nyquist and Brunnner Tatar on his wings.

Sucks to be Tatar and Nyquist right now. You do absolutely everything to earn a spot on the roster, there are 3 forwards injured and you still can't get ahead of players you are clearly better than. So right now we need either even more forwards to get injured - and be careful what you wish for, it could just as easily be [un-named star player] as Sammy. OR We need our bottom 6 to suck so bad that Babs is forced to bring Gus/Tats in. Which means we're probably losing games, which is never good. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hobson%27s_Choice_%28play%29

Emmerton recalled, Nyquist sent down. Sometimes Ken Holland, you make it very, very hard to defend you.

Honestly, talk about reaching to make a point. I'm sure Aaron Downey's 56 regular season games were the key to our 08 cup Anyway, as usual, a fighting thread has devolved into those who believe fighters should also be able to play vs Downey/May/Norton.